2 chicken thighs
12 medium asparagus spears
3 tbsp peanut or corn oil
1 marinade:
1 tbsp dry sherry
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp thin soy sauce
1 pinch sugar
1 sauce:
2 tsp fermented black beans
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp black soy sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 cornstarch paste as thickener
Directions
Marinating: With sharp paring knife, scrape chicken meat from thigh;
slice into thin strips across the grain. (Breast meat is not
preferred for this dish, as meat is too dry and spongy.) Combine
sherry, soy, cornstarch and sugar in bowl; massage liquid into meat
with your fingers. Marinate for 15 to
30 minutes. Preparation: Wash asparagus; peel tough white
outer skin off ends; slice on diagonal in 2 1/2" sections. Rinse
fermented black beans. In bowl, combine and mash black beans and
garlic, brown sugar, black soy sauce and chicken stock; stir; reserve
for 15 minutes. Stir-Frying: Add 2/3 of oil to hot wok; when oil is
very hot, add chicken. Stir-fry for about 3 minutes on high heat - or
until chicken begins to shrink and firm up. Remove chicken to
holding bowl. Reheat wok to high, add remaining oil. When oil is hot,
add black bean sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute. Add asparagus; mix with
sauce. Stir sauce with asparagus. When sauce boils, add cooked
chicken; toss to combine. Dribble in a little cornstarch paste if
needed; cornstarch in chicken marinade might be enough. Toss
ingredients until very little liquid remains and is reduced to glaze.
Dish is ready when asparagus brightens. If you still have too much
liquid, remove ingredients, continue to reduce sauce, then return
ingredients to coat them with sauce. Serve in individual portions.
Servings: 6 servings
Asparagus & Chicken In Black Bean Sauce Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Chicken; Poultry; Sauce; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Historians have proved the existance of recipes back into the distant past, at least as far back into history as ancient Egypt, and possibly even further. However, these, early cookbooks were just basic pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for food preparation.
Interestingly, the oldest recipe discovered, according to Professor Solomon Katz, is a series of tablets in Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel blissful and exhilarated. Moving on, there were two interesting books which were published in the fourteenth century : one book called `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Surprisingly, these two books have no connection with the curry that is familiar to us all today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals prepared by the cooks of the rich and wealthy people of the time. During the succeeding few hundred years, the upper-class families of Europe tried to lay on the best banquets, and as a consequence, cooks and their recipes were highly sought after. Nevertheless, it was during the 1800s that fine cookery and recipe books became popular. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to assembling, trying out, and writing down recipes to allow everyone to enjoy them. Like it or not, the introduction of television brings us celebrity chefs and the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to access massive numbers of recipes just like those on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Asparagus & Chicken In Black Bean Sauce recipe.
